USDA declares war on spotted lanternfly, will spend $17.5M

A spotted lanternfly is pictured along Aster Street in Allentown on Monday, October 23, 2017. The spotted lanternfly is originally native to China, India, Vietnam and eastern Asia.

A spotted lanternfly is pictured along Aster Street in Allentown on Monday, October 23, 2017. The spotted lanternfly is originally native to China, India, Vietnam and eastern Asia. (HARRY FISHER / THE MORNING CALL)

Its target: the state’s valuable agricultural commodities, including fruit and hardwoods.

The battle plan: surveillance, control and action to halt the invasive bug from Asia.

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue announced the department would allocate $17.5 million in emergency funding to stop the spread of the spotted lanternfly in Pennsylvania — a 503 percent increase over last year.

The announcement comes as other states report possible invasions, posing a threat to their agricultural products. Pennsylvania officials say the insect, which is native to China, India and Vietnam, threatens to destroy $18 billion worth of agricultural commodities produced in the state.

The spotted lanternfly was first discovered in Berks County in 2014 and since then has spread to 13 counties in Pennsylvania, including Lehigh and Northampton.

Just last month, the insect was found in Virginia, and evidence of it has been reported in New Jersey and Delaware.

“We’ve seen a dramatic expansion in the range of this pest over the last year and we need to take decisive action to prevent the spotted lanternfly from spreading throughout Pennsylvania and into neighboring states,” Perdue said in a news release.

“We have the tools to fight this invasive insect and — together with the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture — we have developed an areawide approach that will begin before the pest starts to re-emerge in the spring.”

There are several ways experts have tried to fight the insect in Pennsylvania. There are insecticides, which can be used both on the bugs themselves and on the trees they feast on. There’s tree banding, or outfitting a tree with a band of what’s essentially sticky tape that contains and kills young spotted lanternflies. Researchers also create trap trees by eliminating all but one or two trees of heaven — an invasive species the bugs prefer and that research indicates may be a necessity— and treating the remaining trees with insecticide.

The $17.5 million is six times the $2.9 million in federal dollars that went toward fighting the spotted lanternfly last year.

“It is a significant commitment from the federal government and an investment that is crucial for Pennsylvania,” said Bonnie McCann, a spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture.

Also on Wednesday, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf announced that his proposed budget designated about $1.6 million to combating the bug. The budget still needs to be approved by the Legislature.

The federal funding will allow agencies to pursue a two-pronged battle plan against the spotted lanternfly, according to the USDA news release. The federal agency will manage the outer perimeter of the infestation, while the state agriculture department will focus more on the area around the core.

The USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service will survey a 15-mile buffer area outside the outbreak and use insecticides and herbicides to treat the pest and trees of heaven, service spokeswoman Abbey Powell said in an email.

The federal agency will also conduct surveys and potentially implement control measures in Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York and Virginia.

The spotted lanternfly has already attacked grapes in Berks County, and has been seen swarming around apple orchards. The bugs feast on plants and then secrete a sticky, sweet substance that attracts sooty mold, which damages fruit.

McCann, the Pennsylvania agriculture spokeswoman, and Emelie Swackhamer, a Penn State Extension horticulture educator who has unofficially been the lead spotted lanternfly educator, said they need to know more about the insect.

The bugs don’t do well in laboratory conditions and die every winter only to have a new generation emerge from eggs in the spring, so it’s difficult to study them throughout the year.

McCann said researchers need to find out more about how they maneuver in order to stop them. The bug doesn’t normally fly long distances, but instead tends to hop from one surface to another.

The areas are under quarantine, meaning people are restricted from moving material or objects such as wood that could transport the spotted lanternfly. In addition, people in those areas are asked to check for the insects and their egg masses, which look like a splash of mud about an inch long and three-quarters of an inch wide.